Diego Maradona has died

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/25/diego-maradona-dies-one-of-greatest-footballers-of-all-time-argentina-world-cup-1986

by SirOibaf • 6 years ago

428 277 6 years ago

theguardian.com

nahuel0x2• 6 years ago

correction: the greatest footballer of all time.

s_dev2• 6 years ago

What about Pelé?

bulutsuzku3• 6 years ago

He played in a time where Soccer was almost amateur. See the criminal fouls to Maradona in the 80's. In comparison Pele was treated like a sweet flower.

dudul• 6 years ago

Maradona was superior.

If we focus on world cup only for example, Pele had the benefit of playing with the best team in the world. Maradona basically won the world cup on his own.

bobochan2• 6 years ago

Pelé is definitely the choice of many pundits, but he played most of his club soccer in the Brazilian leagues. In Brazil's World Cup efforts he had a superb team around him.

Maradona is given the nod because he played in Spain and Italy, in addition to Argentina, and dominated a World Cup with a much weaker team.

cmyr• 6 years ago

When he dies he can be the greatest ever, but today let it be Maradona.

Given all of his struggles this is not exactly a bolt of lightening from blue skies, but I'm feeling surprisingly moved by this one.

whoisjuan2• 6 years ago

It doesn’t even compare. Pele played in a primitive era of the sport where the existing rules (or lack of them) helped him thrive.

Maradona played in an era that is more akin to modern football with stricter rules.

Don’t get me wrong. Pele was great, but I doubt he would have been that great in modern football.

watoc3• 6 years ago

Messi is probably already the best football player of all time.

Maradona had more charisma and leadership though.

gbaygon• 6 years ago

Not if you count world cups.

nahuel0x2• 6 years ago

you compare stats, but there is an immeasurable dimension: heart.

jillesvangurp• 6 years ago

The difference is that Messi so far failed to deliver a world cup. Just didn't happen. Maradona played a minor role in bringing home the 1978 world cup and took the lead role in closing the deal on the 1986 one. Messi has so far not delivered on that front.

emilsedgh3• 6 years ago

From a technical standpoint Messi is probably better.

But what makes Maradona the best football player in the world is that he transcended football. His football changed things. Brought pride to both Naples and Argentina more than a football trophy could've.

santiagobasulto• 6 years ago

I’m from Argentina, this is a big deal for us. But I’d have never expected to see it in the front page of HN.

pvarangot• 6 years ago

And I also didn't expect everyone abroad to respect Diego so much in this day and age. I think with his passing I'm getting to experience something that my generation has never experienced before, which is a glimpse into how the international community respects a part of Argentinian culture that is not grilled meat or Patagonia.

My heart is also kinda warmed by the fact he left us the same day Fidel did.

toyg4• 6 years ago

Maybe it’s because I’m Italian, but Patagonia and grilled meat are honestly the last things I think about when I think Argentina, probably because I’ve sadly not been there yet. To me your country looks like long-haired footballers, Borges, Soriano, tango, Buenos Aires, desaparecidos, a president who looked like the guy on Fantasy Island (Menem), and all those magnificent comicbook artists the country somehow produced (Quino, Josè Munoz, Carlos Sampayo, Horacio Altuna, Alberto Salinas, Lucho Olivera, the “adopted” Robin Wood...). It’s still very much a stereotype, but definitely something I can’t really associate to wilderness.

I-M-S• 6 years ago

My first association is El Eternauta.

And then Maradonna.

mavelikara• 6 years ago

You underestimate the love people across the world have for Argentina's football team.

I am from Kerala, India, and here is an article that might help paint the picture: https://bit.ly/33iRqnp .

Also, among many people who are not football fans, Maradona and Pele are the two names they'd know. Check out the crowds at this public event in India when Maradona visited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIdwEZ31tTg

RIP.

codegeek• 6 years ago

Maradona was very popular in many countries growing up in the 80s. I only heard of Argentina as a kid when I heard of Maradona :)

esalman• 6 years ago

I'm from Bangladesh and he is as big a deal for us.

whoisjuan2• 6 years ago

Maradona’s documentary on HBO is excellent and really captures how incredibly far his talent was. Not just an outlier. Completely out of this world. He basically won a World Cup by himself.

Really recommend it to anyone interested.

bulutsuzku3• 6 years ago

Actually he did a great job with the Argentina's coach at that time: Carlos Bilardo. He basically revolutionized Soccer and only who really understand tactics knows what he really did.

akmarinov• 6 years ago

He was 60? I thought he was a lot older. RIP

scurvy• 6 years ago

He was like 102 in cocaine years.

aloukissas2• 6 years ago

Imagine if we had this silly VAR technology in the 80s. Then one of the most iconic moments in football history (hand of god) would have been reviewed and dismissed.

RIP Diegito

s_dev2• 6 years ago

Pretty sure the British football premiership only adopted it recently.

In rugby VAR has been widely adopted for a long time.

soneca6• 6 years ago

Probably for the better, as we could all focus on the other goal that he scored that match.

thazework• 6 years ago

That goal wouldn't have happened. He would have been suspended after VAR review.

noncoml2• 6 years ago

Yeah, it’s a pity that the most memorable moment of this legend is that hand goal.

mhh__• 6 years ago

The issue is the way it's being applied not the technology itself.

If the hand of god was gone we'd just talk about the other goal he scored instead

buran77• 6 years ago

It's iconic because it was controversial but he got away with it, also because he was anyway a truly exceptional player. First thing that comes to mind being his other goal in the same match.

But otherwise using the hand to score a goal in football is not that much different from using a cheat device installed in a race car, taking an illegal shortcut in a marathon, or even performance enhancing drugs. Without drug testing many iconic wins wouldn't have been reviewed and dismissed.

anonymfus• 6 years ago

Other ways of cheating you listed require preparation which proves intent. Hand usage sometimes happens unintentionally.

noncoml2• 6 years ago

The hand and the shortcut are a different than the cheat device and the drugs.

One is premeditated. The other it’s not. Just like murders.

globular-toast• 6 years ago

Imagine all the iconic moments we are missing due to the sport of handwaffle not existing.

chrisseaton3• 6 years ago

I don’t understand why would you want an illegal handball to not be provable?

zorked2• 6 years ago

The limitations of the referee were a part of the sport, which was always about humans and stories, not the mechanical application of rules.

That's why we are here once again remembering the memorable moment that the Hand of God goal was.

usrusr2• 6 years ago

It's the flawed moments that separate this sport from those that are basically boring scientific experiments for identifying the fastest, strongest or the most accurate.

You surely wouldn't design it deliberately with those flaws and if the flaws were designed on purpose they'd fail at contributing to entertainment, but ripping them out doesn't necessarily make it better.

Just like you wouldn't want to fix US elections in any way at all if their purpose was entertainment. Football's purpose is.

budgi4• 6 years ago

Because it's human

dylan6042• 6 years ago

I think you are giving VAR too much credit. There have been some silly silly reviews that VAR has allowed things to stand or not even reviewed.

riffraff3• 6 years ago

true, but not in the latest world cup, as far as I remember. Probably having multiple VA referees instead of one makes a difference.

corpMaverick2• 6 years ago

I was not really a fan and I disagreed with him on his political postures. But this is a big deal in Latin america. It is hard not to get excited listening to this song. More like a beautiful poem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uarbz-jBA

He brought hope and excitement to people who had nothing else going on. Edit:spelling

second--shift• 6 years ago

descance en paz, la mano de Dios

w0mbat• 6 years ago

Let’s all give him a big hand.

rasengan• 6 years ago

He has the hand of God [1] ;)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls

minkeymaniac• 6 years ago

he had heavenly feet... and godly hands......

jensblond• 6 years ago

So sad :-(

logronoide• 6 years ago

An incredible talent on the pitch, a winner and a warrior. He never gave up when soccer was much more permissive and violent. He touched the ball with his left foot as an angel. A pity he hurt himself abusing of drugs all his life. ¡Eterno, pibe!

RoutinePlayer• 6 years ago

England is about to declare a national holiday

j/k of course

RIP Diego

dzonga• 6 years ago

to see how legendary this man was, you just have to watch Maradona, the HBO documentary. which is also arguably one of the best sports documentaries. He was a polarizing figure no doubt, but this man won Argentina the world cup single-handed. ahh see the pun. he also made napoli a backwater team into the powerhouse it is today. n remember most of the matches he won, he was high on coke i.e not playing at his full potential.

lowdose• 6 years ago

n remember most of the matches he won, he was high on coke i.e not playing at his full potential.

That's a big assumption. I bet without coke he wouldn't have dared to do his hand of god act.

zekrioca2• 6 years ago

You clearly lack the political context of England/UK and Argentina, and what that goal represented to Argentinians. With or without coke, that was a moment of liberation, and he alone carried the Argentinean team on his shoulders in 1986 when they won the World Cup.

One needs more than coke to do what he did in 1986. One needs to be extraordinarily gifted, only for the likes of Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Garrincha, Messi, Zico, Cruyff, and Maradona could ever do.

toyg4• 6 years ago

He would have been even more outrageous without coke. He said as much on camera: on the pitch he was fine, “beyond the midfield line I was the commander in chief”; it was off the pitch that he struggled and needed coke. He started sniffing in Barcelona, where he didn’t gel with the team off the pitch and probably felt lonely and restless, but his football was already fantastic. Without the addiction he would have had a longer career, and likely would have carried Argentina in ‘94 too.

I hated his guts as a kid because of 1990 (another hand of god, and the feeling he took from Baggio and Schillaci’s Italy a final that was our god-given right), but I’ve come to realize later that he was one of the last great footballers to be (flawed) men first and athletes second. The way he spoke of guilt and regret, his embarrassingly public mistakes... they made him more real than a robotic superman like Cristiano Ronaldo will ever be. And some of his highlight reels are ridiculous.

klausjensen• 6 years ago

There is also a recent netflix series about him as a coach in Mexico. I found it entertaining and learned a lot about Maradona.

pmcpinto• 6 years ago

That documentary is awesome. Probably the best player ever and an unique character

adtechperson• 6 years ago

I saw him live in Foxboro MA in the 1994 world cup match vs Greece (before he was disqualified for drug use). The crowd reaction to him was amazing. Every time he ran near the section I was in the crowd would go crazy just because he was close, even if the ball was far away. It was an amazing experience.

artur_makly• 6 years ago

There will never be another like him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA5fH7Xw9wI

_ofdw• 6 years ago

Unpopular opinion: He was a gifted footballer but was a total piece of shit in nearly all other aspects of life including abusing women and minors, to say nothing of his complete lack of sportsmanship on the pitch.

I hate that this guy gets lionized. To me it just underlines everything wrong with football.

Grustaf• 6 years ago

I don’t think many people will claim that he was a good person. He’s lionized for his football playing, like Messi.

pelasaco7• 6 years ago

He’s lionized for his political stance and rockstar like way of life too.

the_af• 6 years ago

A lot of people in my country also like/dislike him for his political opinions. A lot of people do claim he was a good person. Others hated him or mocked him. He had transcended football.

spidersouris• 6 years ago

I fail to see how "lionizing" someone for their performance or their actions in a specific domain undermines all the wrongs one has done in their life. Sure, perhaps most people will only remember him as a great footballer without talking about the wrong actions he has done during his life, but a) most of them wouldn't have cared anyway and b) one can still see both sides of the coin and admit one's wrongdoing despite one's good performance or results.

I'm far from being a connoisseur about football and sports in general though, so I don't exactly know what this guy has done, but this can be applied to any man on this Earth.

acdha• 6 years ago

It’s a question of the message sent to others: if the unpleasant parts are omitted or excused, there’s a good chance that some people will conclude that those things don’t matter if you’re successful enough. That attitude has negative effects on society since the bad behavior happens even if the success never does.

beervirus• 6 years ago

Meh, welcome to earth. Lots of deeply flawed people are still celebrated for what they accomplish. See, e.g., Steve Jobs.

xtracto• 6 years ago

Well... I admire Kevin Spacey's acting career and think he is an amazing actor. That (for me) doesn't clash with the fact that I detest his alleged molestation of people.

And similarly with other Uruguayan football player who apparently is an asshole but I have to give it to him that his football playing abilities are amazing.

hardlianotion2• 6 years ago

Not much need for an unpopular opinion just now.

mrleinad6• 6 years ago

He was flawed, but far from being a piece of shit. I strongly suggest you put aside your prejudices about him and try to understand both his lights and shadows. He was always on the side of the downtrodden and poor people everywhere. He never abused minors, that one was Pelé. And he always cared about his colleagues, you won't find anyone in football that says or has said otherwise.

phreack2• 6 years ago

There is photographic evidence of him partying naked with minors, corroborated by witnesses.

aazaa2• 6 years ago

Not sure why this is here (don't follow soccer and never heard of Maradona), but the "Hand of God" incident is an entertaining read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_hand_of_God

and watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls

On second thought, this was probably a hack of sorts.

mellosouls2• 6 years ago

It's presumably here because HN is not parochial and Maradona was a Michael Jordan level global superstar, with some claiming him as the greatest ever at his sport.

pelasaco7• 6 years ago

after Pele, in so many aspects (including soccer)

rorykoehler• 6 years ago

Maradona is the Michael Jackson of football. Out of this world both on and off pitch/stage. A larger than life charismatic eccentric. See the other goal he scored in the hand of God game (a world cup semi final no less) to see a complete picture of what he was all about.

mrleinad6• 6 years ago

Did you mean Michael Jordan?

eatplayrove• 6 years ago

I am not criticizing or sneering, but I am astonished that there are people that have never heard of Maradona.

billforsternz• 6 years ago

It's interesting that you've never heard of one of the most famous people in the world. Probably a reflection of insular American media perhaps. It doesn't work in reverse, Babe Ruth was one of the most famous people in the world even though most people around the world don't follow baseball.

aazaa2• 6 years ago

It would be even more interesting to compile a list of the world's most famous people that most of the world's people have not heard of.

My point is that a person can be very famous around the world and still not known by many people. Parochialism doesn't need to be invoked, just math.

Mulpze152• 6 years ago

Most countries on earth don't really play baseball. In those, the huge majority of people have never heard of Babe Ruth.

fishtacos2• 6 years ago

This is sad. Maradona was a distinct part of my childhood growing up in Eastern Europe where soccer heroes were practically worshipped.

Following Pelé, of course.

A trip down memory lane... RiP.

His best goals (according to YT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XegYZ8y3xMY&ab_channel=FIFAT...

elvis70• 6 years ago

Same thing in Western Europe ;-)

zuppy• 6 years ago

I remember the Cincin bubble gum surprises with Maradona, Van Basten, Gullit https://colectionaruldesurprize.wordpress.com/03-cincin/

Everybody was collecting them. What a shame he wasted such an amazing talent with drugs.

I’m a little sad that one of my childhood heroes is gone.

Hasta siempre, Diego Armando Maradona!

fishtacos2• 6 years ago

My collectables were action hero cards (Van Damme doing splits, Schwarzenegger in Predator, Rocky flexing, etc) we got through random gum packages or some other little candy packing (I was maybe 9-10 in early 90s when this was popular, so not super sure). We traded and collected and I'm pretty sure I have the whole 50 cards or so still in a little baggie somewhere in storage.

I also remember Cincin... so perhaps that was where I got them too. Cheers! (from a transplant from Albania)

EDIT: Looking at those series of pics you linked to, I can say I do remember them. My friends collected them. It was the biggest thing happening in our lives.

lordnacho• 6 years ago

Best commentary of that goal is in Spanish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU

The ease with which he played, and lived, was the stuff of legend. There's something tragic in it as well, since it probably contributed to his early passing.

mrleinad6• 6 years ago

English subs here: https://twitter.com/MirrorFootball/status/133163813276532327...

mellosouls2• 6 years ago

A love/hate relationship with the English who I seem to remember voted the infamous Hand of God goal the worst, and the same match's blistering run and finish against them the best ever.

Incredible talent, flawed man.

squarefoot• 6 years ago

That match was played in 1986, just 4 years after the Falklands short war between Argentina and England, and it was the first time the two national teams met after that war. For those involved it meant a lot more than a football match.

RIP Dieguito. I saw him at least a couple times live at the stadium in the 80s; he was out of this world.

trianglem• 6 years ago

I don’t know much about soccer from that era, why was he a flawed man?

goshx2• 6 years ago

https://nypost.com/2019/09/26/how-cocaine-fame-and-the-mafia...

PaulRobinson• 6 years ago

I have a team mate from Argentina here in London. We were talking about Maradona a few weeks back.

I thought when talking about him that if he showed up in London, there would be a mob around him, but it would be 50% people wanting his signature and selfies, and the other 50% would want to give him a piece of their mind about the Hand of God goal.

He probably wouldn't have been safe in London. As a Man City supporter, I know my estimation of Aguero was dinted a little when I found out he was Maradona's son-in-law.

Why? I remember that handball goal (it was not "the hand of god", it was deliberate handball), as being the moment in my childhood that I realised I could not trust some adults. Some adults - it became clear to me then - were dishonest. Even if they were brilliant, talented and otherwise seemingly worthy of respect, they were capable of cheating and not caring. To a young child (I was approaching my 8th birthday at the time), that was shocking to the core, and I cried, not just at England losing the game but that he - and an entire team, an entire country of adults - had cheated and felt fine with it.

Part of my childhood ended with that goal. I know I'm not alone.

I would have been in the group wanting a selfie though.

pyman17• 6 years ago

Imagine how the Argentines felt when they saw the English team kicking Maradona, trying to hurt him and break his legs during the match, knowing it was a one man team. My point is, in football no one expects you to like your opponents. So there's nothing wrong with not liking Maradona :)

gus_massa2• 6 years ago

In case someone has not seen the second goal against England in 1986

Original footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU

An interview many years later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOz2uGMTA2w

mongol3• 6 years ago

This goal was incredible, but with many years passed, it has faded in significance for me. Not sure why, if it is because the game has evolved, or I have seen many other great goals, or something else. But probably because I think the defense was too passive. This goal would not be done today, most probably.

arrosenberg• 6 years ago

Lionel Messi, same goal, 2004 (or thereabouts) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAehMNYw0ig

hardlianotion2• 6 years ago

Camerawork has certainly improved since then

soneca6• 6 years ago

The fact it was during an eliminatory game of World Cup (that Argentina ended up winning) matters a lot to the importance and beauty of this goal. There are not many opportunities in a player life to do such a thing (unlike national league or even continental league matches)

andrepd2• 6 years ago

It's more than the play itself. It's the context. A world cup game (on of the best in recent decades at that), an Argentina x England after a war which precipitated massive change in Argentina, the whole atmosphere around that match. Then the hand of god, then that goal. It will be a legend remembered for centuries to come, in the memory and folklore of Argentinians especially, and of football lovers everywhere.

brudgers2• 6 years ago

A few years afterwards, the game began speeding up. The goal is from an earlier era. Before the backpassing was outlawed. Before tactical fouls earned a yellow card. Before hacking fell out of the game. One of the remarkable features of the goal is that he avoided being pulled/pushed/kicked down by any of the defenders.

Another remarkable feature is that it happened at 2200m, in July, with 1986 air quality. Futbol in Mexico still looks different because so much of it is played at altitude...and so much of European futbol is played near sea level.

Hopefully, its most remarkable feature will never be surpassed: massive geopolitical significance in the wake of the war in the south Atlantic.

teleforce• 6 years ago

The defense is not passive but the football field was very soft and it's hard to run around to play football on it. This is according to Gary Lineker, England forward who was playing in the tournament. The bad condition favours Maradona who's accustomed to play in bad field condition.

snake_plissken• 6 years ago

Man all before the professional foul became a thing. That kind of play doesn't happen much these days.

onetimemanytime• 6 years ago

This is the main danger IMO. They need to stop by liberally applying yellow and red cards

xapata6• 6 years ago

Back then there was the unprofessional foul, with disgusting regularity. Referees were much less willing to show cards.

bmsleight_2• 6 years ago

But the first goal, broke my young heart. Can never forgive.

whatever_dude• 6 years ago

The two goals are greatly symbolic of Maradona. There's the genius and there's the deeply flawed human.

crncosta• 6 years ago

Thank you Don Diego https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nCPA3-HURw

Balgair• 6 years ago

I may be mistaken, but I believe this is also the 'Gardel Lives!' goal. A radio announcer got a bit excited and started shouting 'Gardel Viva!' into the broadcast for a good while.

Carlos Gardel, the Gardel shouted out, was a the best of all Tango singers and an Argentine legend/national hero [0], dying at 44 in a plane crash. Think someone on the same level as Elvis was to the US.

Sorry that I can't find the broadcast recording of that goal though!

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Gardel

balabaster• 6 years ago

I watched this game live in 1986... the atmosphere that day, in that heat and altitude they had to play in, even on the little 14" TV we had in our house was palpable. There was something about the quality of the colors, the weather, the camera work, even to this day you can distinguish the video from the '86 World Cup at a glance of just a couple of seconds. It still brings back such amazing memories from my childhood - even though we lost. I collected the Panini World Cup stickers religiously and put them all carefully in the sticker album. I was heartbroken to be knocked out by someone I considered to be a massive cheat, but even so, I can't take away from the brilliance of this goal. It was an incredible run. He deserved the goal. I wish I could've said they deserved the game without feeling that tinge of bitterness.

omaranto2• 6 years ago

The heat? I live in Mexico City, it's basically never hot here. That game was on June 22, and according to WolframAlpha that day had a high of 15C. I don't know if that data is accurate, but I can tell you a high of 15C in June is plausible. Even if Wolfram's data is sketchy, I'd bet the high temperature on that day was somewhere between 15C and 25C.

gerdesj2• 6 years ago

I recall watching it at my granny and grandad's house down in Devon. One of the dogs pissed on the TV aerial, which was run up a rubber plant. The colours went a bit odd after that and there was a bit more static on the screen. The game was electric.

Maradona's contribution for the Argies was absolutely awesome. He had style, class, aggression, a massive swagger and an incredible situation awareness. There were another 22 people on the pitch that day but:

There is only one Maradona, one Maradona ...

nickt• 6 years ago

Because this is HN, no article gets away without a retro computing reference.

Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shilton's_Handball_Marad...

pyman17• 6 years ago

someone I considered to be a massive cheat,

What's your definition of "being a cheat" in football? Let me remind you that kicking Maradona during a match, trying to break his legs so he can no longer play, is cheating. Punching, pushing, hurting someone on purpose is cheating. Even one of the BBC commentators, Emlyn Hughes, said during the England vs Argentina match: "Oh, that was awful. He deserves a red car. Oh well, looks like we got away with it".

And yes, scoring a goal with your hand is also cheating. Did Maradona scored a goal with his hand? Yes. Did the English team kick and hurt Maradona the entire match. Yes, I saw it with my own eyes.

This is why FIFA invented the concept of Fair Play, to stop players from kicking and hurting others. And why they invented the VAR, to stop them from scoring goals with their hand.

cm2012• 6 years ago

Can someone explain to a soccer novice why this goal is special? It looks similar to lots of others to my untrained eye.

rusk• 6 years ago

What do you not get? He takes the ball from the half way line on a solo run past 6 of some of the best players in the world and manages to score, while being tackled. I’m not a sports aficionado so struggle to come up with analogy to another sport but let’s just say it’s like reverse engineering an nvidia driver in a few weeks using nothing but vi and hexdump.

This was lauded as goal of the century.

rahoulb• 6 years ago

Very few people can control the ball whilst turning as he does at the beginning. And he beats six players, some of the best in the world.

As you get to higher and higher levels of football the quality of the defending increases so being able to play against the opposition as if you were eight is very rare.

jgwil23• 6 years ago

It's a very good goal because of how many defenders he evades all on his own, but it's considered the "goal of the century" because of the context: a World Cup elimination game against the hated English.

solids2• 6 years ago

Similar to playstation goals you mean?

emilsedgh3• 6 years ago

So the importance of this goal was that Maradona dribbled pas almost the whole England team single highhandedly and humiliated them, restoring the pride of a nation (Argentina) who lost a war (Falklands War) before this to England.

patrickk• 6 years ago

If you ran for a few meters and tried to control a ball at your feet, you'd understand somewhat. Even that is extremely difficult to do well- shifting the ball and keeping it under control of your feet and away from defenders.

Now try to imagine people trying to hack you down (totally normal defending back then) and tugging your shirt, in the blazing heat, at altitude, against a team that humiliated your country in a war a few years earlier...and instead you waltz around all of them, make them look amateurish, and knock them out of the biggest sports tournament on the planet at a sport they invented.

anonymousDan• 6 years ago

The other thing to remember was that according to Gary Lineker the pitch was absolutely terrible.

jgwil23• 6 years ago

Wouldn't be fair to show this one without showing the one that preceded it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccNkksrfls

solids2• 6 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ZjU-6iSwk

ramgorur• 6 years ago

I always enjoyed his dribbling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLVmBJEzXhk

vermontdevil• 6 years ago

“ If I was in a white dress at a wedding and a muddy ball arrived... I would stop it from the chest, without thinking about it”.

Diego.

pyman17• 6 years ago

I'm surprised there are no pictures of Maradona in a white 3XL wedding dress.

moneywoes• 6 years ago

Rip.

grezql• 6 years ago

RIP - Best football player of all time

pelasaco7• 6 years ago

after Pele you mean.

goshx2• 6 years ago

(in Argentina)

Panoramix• 6 years ago

Not really. Consensus top 3 is Maradona, with usually Messi and the third more controversial usually goes to one of the Ronaldos or Cruyff.

brudgers2• 6 years ago

Describe a time you hacked a non-computer system

It wasn’t just a big match. Just four years after the war in the south Atlantic, it was perhaps the biggest international match in the brief history of international matches.

mrleinad6• 6 years ago

The official Queen twitter account posted this beautiful photo. It speaks volumes:

https://twitter.com/QueenWillRock/status/1331645705392451590

jonwinstanley• 6 years ago

Genuinely thought HRH had posted a Maradona message

29athrowaway• 6 years ago

In Argentina there is a religion where Maradona is seen as a prophet, the Maradonian Church.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_Maradoniana

This is a video about it by Vice: https://youtu.be/knRo_1xrJ2A

They perform baptisms and marriages. Members usually use Diego for their children's first or middle names.

They also spell "god" as "d10s" (dios + 10, where 10 is Diego's jersey number).

There are many songs dedicated to him, such as https://youtu.be/EAk-l1VHzBw

...and a museum, I think.

Maradona's immortal play is "el gol del siglo": https://youtu.be/jOz2uGMTA2w

The atmosphere during that match was pretty tense since Argentina and England had an armed conflict 4 years prior, the Falklands War.

Bluestein• 6 years ago

The parody "Church of Maradona" (yes, this is a thing!), or Maradonian Church might mark today as a black day, year 60 DD "Después de Diego" or "after Diego" ...

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_Maradoniana

Poor Maradona holds the record for suffering the most number of fouls in a World Cup – 53, during the 1986 World Cup. He has a tattoo of Che Guevara on his arm, and a portrait of Fidel Castro tattooed on his left leg.-

Controversial figure, certainly to be missed by many ...

He had complete mastery of the ball. When Maradona ran with the ball or dribbled through the defence, he seemed to have the ball tied to his boots.

Discovered at the age of 8, the scouts asked for an ID, thinking they were being had. He played like an adult. Like very few adults, even then.-

Here's someone born with a special gift, of which he gave freely - and, expensively - twice the record holder for the most expensive transfer ever ...

A life well lived. RIP.-

andrepd2• 6 years ago

A good cue to remember Barcelona's scout report of Maradona:

https://old.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1orjm7/scouting_rep...

paganel• 6 years ago

RIP :( I'm playing this now in his memory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0KCbZ7L17I . He's the greatest footballer that I had the chance to watch, and I consider myself lucky for that. Probably nobody will come again to that level, the game and the spirit of the game has changed too much for that to happen.

cambalache4• 6 years ago

For many personal reasons I wont mention here Maradona was a real source of joy for me (something sadly not too common in life). Descansa en paz Dieguito querido, nunca se te escapo la tortuga.

markosaric• 6 years ago

RIP Maradona! The greatest footballer of all time! Napoli is crying :(

Daishiman3• 6 years ago

I'll represent the other, unpopular side: the man did as much if not more damage than all the glory he had.

As a footballer his career was finished pretty much 30 years ago. He left the '94 World Cup testing positive for drugs in what was a national embarrassment. His career as a manager was a disaster that existed purely off his prior fame. It's an embarrassment that we are unable to move on past things that happened four decades ago.

As a human being, he lacked morals, never recognized his uncountable illegitimate children, had no care for his body or self beyond the most infantile of desires, and his irrelevant words on a myriad topics were taken as gospel in an astounding display of hypocrisy.

I did not live to see his plays in the 80s. I remember his infamy of the 90s, along with the infamy of many, many public figures of Argentina of that time (along with the coked-up failure of a president Menem and the parade of similarly dubious public figures, all good friends of his too).

I remember being in elementary and my classmates emulating, respecting and excusing the horrible aspects of his character, and I certainly remember how that made dents in the morals of a generation that excused cheating as long as it got results done.

Having later on lived in more developed countries where that stuff just didn't fly, I'll go out on a limb and ascribe at least part of the failures of Latin America to these kinds of attitudes.

pritovido• 6 years ago

I agree with you.

I was in Spain, and Maradona played there while he was not yet the shadow of himself that became later.

Lots of people admired this man but when he started doing stupid things like being totally drunk and stoned on public, most people stopped admiring him in all places but in Argentina.

I traveled to places like Bariloche and specially Buenos Aires for a very sort time,a month or so, and I could not understand almost the deity that such a bad example represented there.

But then an Argentinian friend explained it to me: You do not understand. It was because of the Malvinas, the English, Maradona represented something like a general that won over the same that defeated and humiliated us and so on...

And then it made sense. I had not made the connection before that.

And yes I agree with you that South America in general follows terrible role models. Places like Colombia or Venezuela look like paradise and are extremely wealthy but then the environment is Hell.

It is very interesting that Argentina and Chile are somewhat like the US and Europe but in reverse, the more to the South you go, the more serious people are, only that there is less and less people and land there to become significant.

pyman17• 6 years ago

First of all, most people admire Maradona as a footballer, not as a person. His unique skills are admired by fans and footballers all over the world, including Lineker, Emlyn Hughes, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Romario, Pep Guardiola, Mourinho, Zidane, Platini, Messi, etc. If you don't consider his abilities to be outstanding, then you are probably not a big football fan.

Secondly, what's your definition of "being a cheat" in football? Let me remind you that kicking Maradona during a match, trying to break his legs so he can no longer play, is cheating. Punching, pushing, hurting someone on purpose is cheating. Even one of the BBC commentators, Emlyn Hughes, said during the England vs Argentina match: "Oh, that was awful. He deserves a red car. Oh well, looks like we got away with it".

Yes, hurting a player on purpose is cheating (England 1986), faking a penalty is cheating (Germany 1990), and scoring a goal with your hand is also cheating (Argentina 1986).

This is why FIFA invented the concept of Fair Play, to stop the English players from hurting others. And also why FIFA invented the VAR, to stop Argentine players from scoring goals with their hand and Germans from faking penalties.

Please, lets stop with the double standards.

corpMaverick2• 6 years ago

I don't disagree with you. But it is not like first world countries are inmune. Just look at a current president whose lies, cheating and incompetence are inexplicably excused by 70 million first world voters.

Daishiman3• 6 years ago

Oh I'm not saying that it's immune at all, but the outrage against Trump is at the very least visible and palpable and those who excuse them are visibly ashamed of the support.

msapaydin2• 6 years ago

I don't agree with you. I recommend you watch Maradona documentary by Kapadia to better understand his career.

slms• 6 years ago

What's your point? The documentary doesn't really touch on basically any of the points that this comment refers to as it ends around 1990. I liked the documentary though, because I was also born in the 90s so I mostly saw the ugly part of Diego.

wslh• 6 years ago

In the context of HN don't forget the game Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shilton%27s_Handball_Mar...

blasrodri• 6 years ago

The best.

edwardor• 6 years ago

This 2019 documentary about Maradona's time playing for Napoli is well worth watching. It has some incredible archival footage — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona_(film)

riffraff3• 6 years ago

it is hard to overstate how important Maradona was and still is for people in Naples.

To this day you can see representations of him all over the city, he was almost as revered as a local Saint, possibly more.

It's a pity the city is "off" due to COVID19, I would expect some big celebrations.

globuous• 6 years ago

He'll be missed, what a wonderful player !! Make sure to watch this video where Manu chao serenades him by surprise: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tTjR4zY_c ;)

fold_left• 6 years ago

This is joyous, Maradona: Life is Life https://youtu.be/4vashrNoXTE

seshagiric• 6 years ago

A true legend, I clearly remember childhood days when every kid in my neighborhood wanted to be Maradona (and this was in India, where we did not even play football that much!!).

emilsedgh3• 6 years ago

I strongly suggest everyone interested in Maradona, Football, and generally how sports can affect a society to watch HBO's documentary on Maradona [0]

[0] https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/diego-maradona

BillyButcher• 6 years ago

Rest in peace. One of the greatest ever.

jmmag3• 6 years ago

Given the historical context, we will never see something similar to what this man did. God level skills proved during the '86 World Cup (and '90), Napoli and the Argentine league.

Farewell, Diego.

andy_ppp• 6 years ago

Live is Life: https://youtu.be/4vashrNoXTE

The atmosphere in the crowd and the skills without his boots tied up.

toyg4• 6 years ago

An away game. Full house. Very important European game. And this guy is just dancing around while juggling a ball in the air, untied boots, singing the song, feeling good.

Jurgen Klinsmann, who was playing for the home team that day, said a few of his teammates stopped warming up to watch him. I reckon the sight of this crazy little fella just psyched to dance and play ball, off-handedly showing more skills than most players on the planet will ever have, must have sowed quite a few seeds of doubt in Bayern’s players.

edgarvaldes• 6 years ago

If you can read in Spanish, I recommend you the blog post "10.6 segundos" from Hernán Casciari, from 2013.

https://hernancasciari.com/blog/10_6_segundos

severine• 6 years ago

English translation: https://medium.com/@casciari/one-hundred-views-of-diego-mara...

¡Gracias Diego!

DevKoala• 6 years ago

At his peak, this man achieved the undisputed best performances by a football player ever seen. Truly a genius with a never surrender mentality.

fredguth• 6 years ago

Lots of respect for someone so worshiped by his geniality in the pitch that there is literally a Maradonian church.

spicyramen• 6 years ago

I have followed and played football since I was born. I was lucky to be in Mexico 1986 and have seen the evolution of football. Today the sport have evolved so much, diets, rules, salaries, marketing, tactics with this in mind players are less passionate about their teams and care more about the looks and salaries, this clearly affects how they perform in the field. When Maradona led Argentina in a World Cup against a very very strong English team, and score that goal is something that no matter if you are argentinian or not, this can't be quantified, this passion is not numbers. Here we are analytical and love numbers. Messi in numbers is better, but the feeling and the emotions you generate in a crowd is what makes Maradona special. He caused that in Napoli, Argentina, Mexico, anywhere, he is D10S

ToFab123• 6 years ago

I face palmed when I saw Pele say "We will play soccer together in heaven ".

Pele was he even a good soccer player. Nobody knows. He never played in a European club or tournament against and with the world's best players. He choose to spend he entire career playing in the USA. The US, at that time, was not big into soccer. Had no good players or soccer environment. They had a lot of amateurs and showmanship and if you were just a little above the performance and skills on an average European player you could easily run around the corner with the American player and that was what Pele did. There exist no proof that he was particlar good a playing soccer. He might have been but your guess is as good as mine but his marketing skills must have been amazing. He soccer skills probably not so much.

Maradona on the other hand. He was an amazing player. RIP

prmph3• 6 years ago

In case you're wondering, you're being downvoted because your comment is full of factual errors.

williamsharris• 6 years ago

RIP. I thought he got better recently.

ejanus• 6 years ago

The real spirit of soccer. I was his fan and I would miss him so much. But the game continues that is the only way to immortalize him.

If players are allowed to play in Europe, fans that are under 35 years should be allowed inside the stadiums. Life must continue, empty stadiums turn fields to graveyards.

jmmag3• 6 years ago

God is dead.

manuu80• 6 years ago

Live footage of his wake https://youtu.be/j9USSsGpfhA

Diego Maradona has died

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